Shiver me timbers!!! It's time for another tablescape. It's been far too long since this pirate gal last participated in Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch. If you haven't visited her blog, you are definitely a Scallawag. So come aboard and visit my Pirate tablescape, just in time for Halloween. And don't worry, I won't make you walk the plank. Unless you didn't bring treats!!!

Well start off with my first try with my Pirate table for Halloween. Arghhh!!! Not bad, but I wasn't satisfied.

Second & final try, now I'm happier. I switched out the white spider table cloth for a black one. You can't really see the spiders on this one, but trust me, they are there.

Can anyone tell me what else is different between the two?

My favorite thing is the treasure chest.

The pirate plates are plastic & came from Dollar Tree. I love that store!!!

I placed them on my white charger plates that came from Amazon. I love these charger plates. They go with almost all my plates.

The silverware came from Marshall's some time back. I don't remember who the maker is. They were on clearance. So I love them. The white napkins were a clearance item from Walmart. The silver napkin rings I got at Goodwill while on vacation this summer.The plastic skull candy cups came from the 99 cent only store. I'm using them to hold battery operated tea light candles.

The goblets are from Walmart. I wrapped a skull bracelet from the 99 cent only store around the stem. I got 4 bracelets for 99 cents.A close up of the skull bracelet. I'm into skulls this year.A photo with just candle light.

Here is the treasure chest. I love how this turned out. I found the metal chest at a local thrift store for $2.00. I didn't have to do anything to it. It was painted cream on the outside & gold on the inside. I added some creepy cloth as lining. Added a silver pedestal with a skull candle holder, a small silver tray and all my costume jewelry. Well, almost all of it. If a pirate breaks into my house this week, they will have it easy on finding my loot.

Doesn't this remind you of the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland?A mini skeleton keeps guard over the treasure.

I can't remember where this skull candle holder came from. I have a battery operated tea light candle in him as well. I placed him on the silver pedestal.

I've had the silver candlesticks for years. The crystal bobeches came from Bombay company on clearance. I miss that store. They had the best clearance stuff.

More skeletons keep guard on the table.

Another view of the table.

Did I tell you that I love how this treasure chest turned out?

I need to win the lottery so I can buy real jewels. But it's hard to win when you don't play.

Dead man's chest!!!

Do you recognize this pirate?

Sorry, but no rum will be served at this party. Just pepsi!!!

I've got to run now. Captain Jack Sparrow is at my door. Are you jealous? I thought so. Have a happy & safe Halloween. Jack & I will be handing out candy to all the other little pirates.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I finally have my Halloween decorating done inside my house. I usually decorate the 1st of October. But this year the dang flu hit my household & I haven't felt like decorating. This weekend I finally felt good enough to finish up.

So let's go on a little tour. This year I only decorated my kitchen & family room area. This area is the top of a little cabinet that fits at the end of one of my kitchen cabinets. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am cheap, I mean frugal. It's not that I don't love to spend money, I just don't have any to spend. The only things new in this vignette is the "spooky" sign ($2.99 from Target), and the "trick or treat" sign ($5.99 from Tai Pan Trading).

This white ironstone plate was one of my thrift store finds from a couple of weeks back. I got it for $2.00. The black cat graphic I found online. I just printed it out on card stock, cut it out & taped it onto the plate. Cost: free.The white empty frame always sits on this cabinet. It came from a thrift store years ago. I painted it white. The apothecary jar is always on this cabinet. It has been filled for the last few months with my clearance letter balls from Coldwater Creek outlet. The spider votive holder came from Big Lots a few years back for $2.00. The white ceramic pumpkin was a thrift store find from my vacation to Arizona this summer. Cost $1.50.Next we move on to my china hutch which sits in my family room. But my kitchen & family room is really just one big room. The only new thing on my hutch are the 4 Halloween plates on the upper shelf. They came from Ross. I think they were $1.99 each. Oh and the ghost & pumpkin votive holders, they came from Walmart this year. $1.00 each. Everything else I already had.The spider web plate I made last year by drawing a spider web & a lousy spider on a plate I got from the Dollar Tree store. The crow came from Dollar Tree, the skeleton on the right came from the 99 cent Only store (it is new this year too, I forgot). It was actually part of a garland of 4 skeletons. The skull, I'm not sure where it came from. I've had it for awhile. I printed out a vintage Halloween image in Sepia tone to put underneath the glass cloche.

A plastic skull from Dollar Tree sits under another glass cloche on another Halloween plate I made last year. And another vintage Halloween image printed out & placed beneath another cloche on another spiderweb plate I made last year.The white pumpkins on the top row were originally orange and came from Dollar Tree. I spray painted them Heirloom white. I was going to paint "BOO", but ran out of time. The little mummy votive candles I made after seeing how Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick made hers. I used left over votive candle holders from our wedding. Taped some googly eyes onto the glass & wrapped with cut up gauze I bought from Dollar Tree. I think they turned out so cute. On the bottom row I just used my Spode dishes and cup up my "BOO" garland from last year. I taped a letter to each plate.Everything looks better under glass. I've had this ceramic piece for years. Just placed it on a small cake pedestal & covered with a cloche. And owls are so "in" this year.Everything in this photo came from Dollar Tree or 99 Cent Only store over the past couple of years.Here's a closer view of my painted pumpkin & the mummy votive holder.This is one of the plates I made last year with the Dollar Tree plates. I free handed the bats & the "eek". This one turned out the best and sits on top of my TV cabinet with my white pitchers.Next up is my mantel. It was late in the day when I took my photos, so they are not the best.On the left hand side is a cute plate that came from Dollar Tree. My apothecary jars came from Big Lots a few years back. I have filled them with clearance number balls from Coldwater Creek outlet, plastic skulls & skull hands, both from Dollar Tree last year. Even the garland used on the mantel came from Dollar Tree.My "spooky" sign that I made last week. You can read about how I made it by clicking here.The right hand side has a crow from Dollar Tree, crystal compote I've had for years topped with a white pumpkin that came from Target this year. I think it was $3.00. I wish I had bought more than one. The statue was an antique store find this summer for $3.00. I found the witches hat at Dollar Tree. It was part of a pet costume. I was going to make a witches hat out of scrapbook paper, but I ran out of time. But this pet hat, works just fine.Next is my white trunk. This is always hard to decorate because of it's uneven top. Most everything on this trunk is new this year.The glass pumpkins came from Sam's Club. This was my 1 splurge this year. I think they were $24.00. But this past weekend I saw them marked down to $17.00. Drats, if only I had waited a couple of weeks. But aren't they gorgeous? I'm going to use them in my Thanksgiving decor as well. The "Wicked" sign came from Walmart this year. I think it was a couple of dollars.Sorry for the blurry photo. This pumpkin came from the Dollar Spot at Target for $2.50. The crow is from Dollar Tree.I got this Trick or Treat image from The Graphics Fairy. I printed it out on card stock. I already had the black frame in my stash. I placed it on a black easel that came from Dollar Tree.My 3 tier cake stand is pretty much the same as in my Fall decor. I just changed out the 2 birdie votive holders for this "Happy Halloween" sign that I got on clearance from Michael's last year or the year before. And the only candy I've had to change out is the Boston Baked Beans. Yup, I'm the culprit who ate those. I've had to fill that cup up 3 times already. But everything else, the boys have left alone. Except I did notice that each pile is down slightly. So they must have snuck some. But I am proud that they have been such good boys. I guess it helps that they are adults. I don't think little boys could have resisted this long. Except now that I'm looking at the photo, I notice an empty cup on the right hand side towards the back. It had caramels, I'll bet hubby took those since they are his favorites.This spider came from Dollar Tree. I thought it looked cute hanging on the lamp shade.I just got this little "RIP" sign from Michael's on clearance just the other day. I think it was $1.25Here is the shelf that sits right above my trunk to the right. The copper pumpkin was a Target find this year for $5.99. Those spider webs, they're real!!! I had to pay the spiders overtime to get them to make things look spooky. The 3 ceramic baskets were clearance items from Michael's last year. I think I paid $1.00 each for them. The bear dressed as a ghost I've had for years. And the white pumpkin came from Dollar Tree.This sign came from Big Lots this year. I think it was $2.00. It's hanging from a small door knob on a window mirror I have hanging on the wall.

The table to the right of my couch has these 2 Halloween signs I made a few weeks back at my SIL's house. You can read about it here. The little ghost pot came from Dollar Tree. Here's a closeup of the "Eek" sign.And the witch shoe sign. Aren't they cute? They were so much fun to make, and easy when you have a kit. Here's another Big Lots sign hanging from my floor lamp. And probably my favorite Halloween decoration is my creepy family chandelier made with these "googly eye" photos I made last year. I saw this on HGTV website and had to make my own. I just printed out photos of my family in sepia tone. I burned the edges, glued on googly eyes and glued to black foam core. A couple of things that might help you if you decide to make your own: When burning the edges, use your stove (if you have gas), much easier than using matches or lighter. Or you could just cut the edges funky & use distress ink. You could also just use black card stock instead of foam core & that would actually be easier to punch a hole into for the ribbon. It was a pain getting the hole puncher to punch a hole in the foam core. If I were to do this again, I'd use black card stock.I hung them to my chandelier using black curling ribbon. I also added a black bead garland to my chandelier as well. I bought the garland at Big Lots. It was originally gold for Christmas, I just spray painted it black.I even added photos of my Grandson.This is a photo of me when I was just a tyke. I love this photo.

This sign hangs in my kitchen. I got it this year from Dollar Tree. See how much you can decorate on the cheap by using stuff from Dollar Tree or 99 cent only stores? Do you want to stay for dinner? This cabinet is in my kitchen as well. I used plates I already had on hand. The cream plates are thrift store finds. The black & white plates came from Marshalls earlier in the year. The little Halloween plate with the cat came from Target last year. The Halloween figures on top, I've had for years. Everything else is usually on this cabinet.

I love these plates.And to the right of this cabinet is my plate rack & secretary. All these plates came from Dollar Tree this year. I thought they were just too cute. I'm totally into skeletons for the past couple of years.I printed out the "BOO" from The Graphics Fairy website. It's suppose to be made into a garland, but I thought it was cute to cut out each letter & tape to my white plates. And there you have my Halloween decor for this year. As you can see, you don't have to spend a lot of money to decorate. I kind of like the challenge of decorating on the cheap. Do you?

About Me

I love blogging as it lets me peek into the lives of other people.I love to see how others decorate their homes. So I may lurk on your blog to see what's up. I love to decorate, but I tend to dream more than to do. I hate cleaning, I'm not very organized, I hate to get rid of the things I love which tends to be almost everything I own & I'm am the world's best procrastinator. But somehow I manage to keep my household from falling apart & the health dept hasn't condemned our house, yet. Knock on wood!
I'm lucky to be married to a man who can do it all. Otherwise our house might just fall apart. We have 3 adult boys between us, 1 daughter in law & 1 grandson.